


Popsicle Stick Puzzles and Asgardian Nursery Rhymes

by accidentallyonpurpose



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cute, Cute Kids, Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 14:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2736704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accidentallyonpurpose/pseuds/accidentallyonpurpose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Avengers visit the S.H.I.E.L.D. daycare when they have a free moment. <br/>Based off this post:<br/>http://blandmarvelheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/98587634217/shield-has-a-childcare-center-for-employees-with<br/>SHIELD has a childcare center for employees with children. Sometimes when the Avengers have time they will stop by and play with the kids. Thor and Steve love it the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Popsicle Stick Puzzles and Asgardian Nursery Rhymes

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed. Leave kudos and comments at your leisure- I live for them.

The door in front of them looked the same as every other blank grey door that lined the hallway. The Avengers stalked stealthily down the hall, listening for any hint of sound coming from their target door once they reached it.   
“Ready, everyone?” Steve asked the team. They all nodded, Clint and Tony looking slightly grim and Thor’s face lighting up with excitement. Natasha just looked determined and Bruce looked a mixture of ill and excited. “Alright, let’s go.”  
Steve grabbed the door handle and quickly threw the door open. A barricade of sound washed over the Avengers, high-pitched giggles and cries mixed in with the occasional adult voice. The noise died slightly when the door opened, then surged forth again like a tidal wave. Cries of “Steve!” and “Thor!” and “Is that Iron Man?” came at them from all angles, similar to the ammo of enemies aimed at them. There were about thirty children under the age of five, and six adults in the large room. Low tables were scattered around the room; in one corner there was a large rug and in another corner there was sand and water tables. The room also contained a playhouse, a separate kitchenette set and several boxes of diverse toys, varying from blocks to dolls to cars and dinosaurs. Little feet ran at the group of heroes and several small bodies launched themselves at the heroes.   
“Steve, Steve, Steve!” Steve swung the little blonde girl up in his arms.  
“Hey, Sally. How’s it going?”  
“Steve, we made popsicle stick puzzles today. Look, mine’s a caterpillar! Come see!” Sally jumped out of Steve’s arms, grabbed his hand and dragged him over to one of the low tables containing several art projects. “Look you take ‘em apart like this,” she took the different popsicle sticks and mixed them up. “And then you put them back together so they make the picture. You do it.” Steve took the popsicle sticks and carefully laid them out, trying to find the matching pieces to form the shakily-drawn caterpillar.  
“There you go, very nice Sally.” Steve felt a tug on his arm. He looked behind him to see a small boy with sandy blonde hair and big brown eyes. “Hi, there, what’s your name?” he asked, crouching down to be eye-level with the boy.   
“Trevor, Mr. Captain America, sir.” he mumbled.   
“Hi Trevor. You can just call me Steve. What’s your favorite colour?”  
“Red. And blue.” He looked down at his feet.   
“Want to show me what you worked on today, Trevor?”  
“Mmm’kay. Yes please.” Steve quickly ran his hand over top of Sally’s head in silent farewell. Steve held out his hand and Trevor took it tentatively. They ended up in front of a wall that held rows and rows of paintings and drawings. Trevor pointed to one in particular that depicted an orange and blue blob with red and white vertical stripes.   
“Wow, that’s really good. Is that… me?”  
“Yeah. You’re on a hill. Because I like being outside, so I thought maybe you would too.”  
“Well, you’re definitely right, Trevor. I do love the outdoors. What’s your favorite animal?”

Meanwhile, Bruce and Thor were teaming up to entertain their share of kids. Bruce tended to stick with Thor or Steve on these visits, feeling anxious if left around children on his own. Not that he doubted his self-control, but he was one to be overly cautious when he could be. So he stuck with the two most outgoing, child-loving people so that they could take the brunt of the childish affection.   
Currently Thor had a child on each shoulder and was gallivanting around the spacious carpet area, singing an Asgardian nursery rhyme, chortles trailing in his wake. Bruce watched the frivolities from the side of the carpeted area, his arms crossed and a smile on his face. He noticed a presence in the bottom of his periphery.   
“Hello,” he said gently.   
“Hi, I’m Cara,” the little girl answered back. “You like science, right?”  
“I do like science. I like science a lot. Do you like science?”   
“Yeah. Sometimes, we do ‘speriments here and it’s cool. Last week, we put Mentos in Coke and it ‘sploded! It was so cool! Do you do ‘speriments?”  
“I do do excperiments, although they are a little bigger than Coke and Mentos. What’s your last name, Cara?”  
“Hernandez.” The name sounded familiar.  
“Your mom’s not Stacey Hernandez, is she?”  
“Yup, that’s my mommy. She talks about you sometimes.”  
“Yeah, we work in the labs together occasionally. She’s really nice. Maybe sometime you can come down to the labs with me and we can do some science experiments, okay?”  
“Sure Mr. Banner. Thanks!”  
“You’re very welcome. And you can call me Bruce.”  
“Thanks. Wanna go play blocks with me and Connor?”  
Sure, lead the way.” She grasped his hand firmly and led him over to the various boxes of blocks. 

Tony was not having the same problems Bruce was. Although Tony generally wasn’t fond of children, he tried his hardest to not be a jerk during these visits. This usually resulted in him putting on his loud, boisterous “persona” reserved for the public. This also meant that he attracted children like moths to a flame.   
“Alright, who wants to see me juggle these bouncy balls?” A chorus of positive responses sounded around him, and he sent a charming smile around to all the gathered children before starting his routine. He started with three balls, warming up and getting a feel for the weight and size of the different balls. “Okay, you, with the red hair. Throw me the next ball.” The young girl picked a ball from the box of balls at Tony’s feet and chucked it clumsily into the mix. Tony fumbled the balls for a second before finding a rhythm again, now with the four balls. “Good chuck, kid. Someone else. You, boy with the glasses. Toss one up.” The boy quickly threw the ball at Tony, who caught it and seamlessly mixed it into the rotation. “Aw yeah. Smoother than a baby’s butt.”   
He started throwing the balls higher and higher until suddenly from his left he heard, “Ready, aim, fire!” A rain of plastic arrows fell on Tony, one hitting a ball precisely at it’s peak in the rotation, the other four arrows falling in varying degrees of success on and around Tony. “Good shot, kids!”  
“Agh, Clint, I was just getting into it!” Tony cried as he looked over at Clint, who was perched on one of the many bookshelves that lined the walls, a row of kids below him being aided by Natasha. “Nat, you too?”  
“Someone’s gotta stop you showing off too much,” she replied with a small smile.   
“Where did you get those bows and arrows, anyway?”  
“I may or may not have planted them. Although I’m seriously considering donating some to the daycare. This is S.H.I.E.L.D. after all. Why not teach the kids to defend themselves with plastic weapons? Then I can stage mini wars with them. The possibilities are endless.”  
“No!” Steve and Natasha cried at the same time. Steve had been distracted by the commotion Tony had created.   
“We are not donating weapons, real or not, to a daycare. They have enough to deal with as it is,” Steve said forcefully.   
“Fine,” Clint grumbled. One of the staff members who had been taking a much-needed break while the Avengers were minding the children approached the group.  
“We were just about to do some coloring, if you would all like to join us. And then we were going to have story time. Maybe, if everyone behaves, the Avengers will read a story for us,” she said to the gathered children.  
“We would love to join you for both coloring and story time,” Steve assured, noises of assent being issued from his teammates. The children all cheered and took seats around the low tables, the Avengers situating themselves among the children.

The kids always looked forward to days when the Avengers visited. What they didn’t know was how much the Avengers looked forward to it too.


End file.
